Luffy Cosplay Costumes

One of the most recognizable anime characters out there is Luffy, the protagonist of One Piece. While other shonen staples have since ended or put on hiatus, One Piece has been ongoing for almost 25 years, making Luffy one of the most long-lived shonen protagonists of all time. Here are a few things you should know when looking to cosplay as the kid who would someday become the Pirate King.

Who is Luffy?

Monkey D. Luffy is the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, named after his straw hat, which he received from the famous pirate “Red Hair” Shanks. Among his crew is Nami, his skilled navigator. Initially, Nami joined with the intent of stealing from the crew, but Luffy’s unyielding spirit and promise to defeat the tyrant Arlong who oppressed her village won her loyalty. Since then, their bond has been unbreakable, and Nami has become a vital part of Luffy’s quest to become the King of the Pirates.

Luffy will stop at nothing to achieve his lifelong goal of becoming the Pirate King, inheriting the infamous Will of D. He is the user of the Gomu Gomu no Mi, a Devil Fruit that grants him the power of rubber but robs him of the ability to swim. He accidentally ate this fruit at age 7 while under the wing of Shanks and his crew, growing up in Foosha Village.

The reason why he wanted to become the King of All Pirates is that, according to him, the Pirate King has the most freedom in the world. In order to achieve this title, he and his crew must reach the end of the world and find the One Piece, the legendary treasure that the former Pirate King, the late Gol D. Roger, hid on an island somewhere beyond the Grand Line.

He would assemble a motley crew of misfits who came together due to their belief in Luffy and his dream of becoming the Pirate King. They themselves have their own dreams, but the one thing they all have in common is that they would forego their own dreams in order to achieve Luffy’s ambition to become the Pirate King, the freest individual in the sea.

As a captain, he can be quite hard to understand at first. He’s a fairly simple-minded individual who seems to goof around all the time. Many have even mistaken his first mate Roronoa Zoro to be the real captain due to Luffy’s apparent lack of seriousness. He also tends to get preoccupied with his stomach, gorging on food whenever it’s there, and ends up stuffing himself beyond logic.

However, when the going gets really tough, he can put his serious face on and lead his crew to victory from what looks like a certain defeat. He does this by charging in as a spearhead, trusting that his crew will fulfill their role in having his back and pulling off whatever harebrained plan they’re going with. This leadership style has exasperated the captains of other ships like Trafalgar Law, but they can’t deny that it’s effective and Luffy is an incredibly capable leader.

The most important trait of Luffy as a captain is his care for his crew. He sees them as not just his crew, but his friends and companions. While it’s not the same as how Whitebeard treats his crew as his own children, Luffy’s compassion for his crew is in itself comparable in both depth and intensity.